The brutal killing of 21 mostly Egyptian Coptic Christians held captive by a Libyan extremist group was a war crime for which those responsible must be held to account. Libyan authorities should take immediate steps to bring the perpetrators to justice, to the extent that this is currently possible, and the United Nations should establish a mechanism to investigate and prosecute such crimes.

In the face of massive human rights abuses, the Human Rights Council has a responsibility to be part of the solution. It needs to resist the temptation to retreat into political and regional factionalism, to undermine the independence of your Office, High Commissioner, invoke selectivity to deflect attention from situations demanding international attention, or engage in procedural tactics to silence debate.

The brutal killing of 21 mostly Egyptian Coptic Christians held captive by a Libyan extremist group was a war crime for which those responsible must be held to account. Libyan authorities should take immediate steps to bring the perpetrators to justice, to the extent that this is currently possible, and the United Nations should establish a mechanism to investigate and prosecute such crimes.

Egyptian authorities should drop all charges against the two Al Jazeera English journalists conditionally released on February 12, 2015, and free all other unjustly jailed journalists. Prosecutors have presented no evidence of wrongdoing by the Al Jazeera journalists, and the prosecution of journalists in general is a violation of basic rights protected by both Egypt’s constitution and international law. At least 9 and possibly as many as 67 journalists remain in prison in Egypt, according to human rights and media freedom groups, including some held for months without trial.

Photographs, videos, and witness statements strongly indicate that a member of Egypt’s security forces was responsible for fatally shooting a female protester in a downtown Cairo square on January 24, 2015.